Amazing how a phone call that starts out with "I just wanted you to know that I'm fine" never fails to freak the recipient out.

"What happened?" I started to imagine the worst. Work-related accident? Fire? Another run-in between his bicycle and a car?

My imagination wouldn't have been able to come up with a crane crash situation.

"Oh my God, are you OK?" Amazing how a phone call that starts out with "I just wanted you to know that I'm fine" still makes one ask if the person on the other end is fine or not. Huh.

He was perfectly fine, didn't see it, but wanted to make sure he'd checked in with me. He knew that I'd come across the news shortly - he knows of the frequent Boston.com checks I make throughout the day - and figured that Emerson would be mentioned in whatever news was reported (a good assumption, as the college was included in the first breaking news reports). He was in one of the college's buildings, two doors down from the scene of the accident.

And he was fine. A little spooked, but fine.

I told him I loved him and that I'd talk to him later in the day before hanging up and realizing that "I'm fine" is a necessary start to a phone call or conversation...the only thing one can really say to start off a call like that...

...but talk about the second worst possible start to a conversation one could think of.